


Act Your Age

by DoorIsAjar



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Laughter, Tickling, tickle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 07:09:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14848088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoorIsAjar/pseuds/DoorIsAjar
Summary: Akko has been invited to the Cavendish estate. Proper etiquette does not include laughing yourself to tears and tickling at the dining table; but Diana is certainly not upset, and Anna is glad to see her happy - even if the food is getting cold and glasses are just begging to be knocked over.





	Act Your Age

Anna wouldn't directly admit it, but perhaps Miss Kagari had been the best thing to come into Diana's life in years.

She hadn't heard the young heiress laugh like _that_ since she was but a child, tears springing to her eyes and clutching at her stomach because the laughter just wouldn't cease. She had half her face buried in her other hand, as if such a display were unacceptable of her - but how Anna wished it were.

That was why, she mentally noted, she would have to personally thank Miss Kagari later. It was because of her that Diana was a fit of giggles, cheeks rosy and mouth agape as she struggled to pump air into lungs over such laughter.

"Diana, I've never seen you laugh so hard!" Akko spoke over her own laughter, and she began pulling at Diana's hand to remove it from her face.

Fighting over the bubbles of joy accumulating in her throat, ready to burst from her lips as soon as she completed her sentence, Diana replied, "A-Akko, I... I don't think I _have_."

Akko froze momentarily. She was prone to fits of laughter, plenty of them, but nothing seemed quite as special as this, as perhaps the only time Diana had ever succumbed to the uncontrollable nature of laughter.

And Akko had been the cause. The thought made her chest warm, and she found herself compelled to prevent the noise from stopping. Not yet, this gift was too precious, and the least her friend deserved was a few more moments to behave like the kid she was, not the future head of some fancy house.

The two sat at a large dinning table, although Anna had postponed the arrival of their meal in favor of whatever had occurred between the two young girls. She watched Akko plant her hands into the table, the action causing the silverware to clatter and the glasses to twirl. She shot up and leaned in towards Diana, and Anna choked down the instinctual need to yell at Akko's brash behavior.

"You've _never_ laughed this hard before?!" Akko asked incredulously.

"I c-can't recall so." Diana brought her free hand up towards her mouth again, covering it as another bout of laughter began tumbling from her lips. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, and she honestly couldn't recall the last time she felt like this. She couldn't even place a word on the feeling; all she knew was that it felt amazingly light. She wanted to drown in it.

Akko gave a short giggle in response, prying Diana's hand away once more. "You're allowed to laugh, Diana!" And then she was jamming a finger into Diana's cheek, and she leaned over further, nearly toppling her glass of water as she prodded at Diana's ribs.

Diana swatted away Akko's finger on her cheek and fumbled to pry the girl's hand from her ribs - but she found it difficult as her sides heaved and more laughter erupted from her lips.

"S-Stop, Akko, you are -" A finger prodded at her ribs once more, and the brunette closed the gap even further to jab her fingers at Diana's other side. Diana could hardly produce words past the unfamiliar tingling sensation budding in her chest and the giggles bubbling out. " _Stop_ , you're - the glass - _Akko_!"

"I can't understand what you're saying, Diana!" Akko joked, continuing her onslaught of tickling. Diana fumbled about for Akko's hand, but the other remained free to assault her, and it would simply be an unending cycle of pawing for one hand after the next.

Akko bumped her chair as she aimed further around Diana, and it clattered to the floor, but both girls ignored it.

"Akko, _please_ -"

"Please what?" She said it with a smirk, a bundle of giggles punctuating her quip.

She could faintly hear a door creaking open, but Akko chose to ignore it, as well. Diana's smile was simply too large, and she had never heard laughter like this before, not from any of their friends, not even herself. She certainly never would have thought it to come from Diana - but she was glad it did.

"Please, _stop_! A-Akko, I can't - I can't _breathe_!"

Akko contemplated - momentarily, at least - relenting. That was until Diana pressed her palm flat again Akko's cheek, a poor attempt at pushing her away, and obviously the natural course of action would then be to attack more fiercely.

She prodded and poked and giggled along with the blond witch, compelled by the sound of her friend's laughter. She didn't stop until Diana sounded truly out of breath, until her pearly laughter was accentuated with gasps for breath and she could hardly put up a fight against Akko's advances.

Once she retracted her hands, Diana moved to clear the tears staining her face and hide the final tendrils of laughter hoping to escape; and once Diana's breathing had settled in more comfortably, Akko grabbed for her chair, setting it upright and situating herself at the table once more.

"Thank you."

"Huh?" Akko choked out.

"I haven't laughed like that in... years. It felt... nice."

"It was a rather pleasant sight."

Diana froze while Akko retracted into her seat, nearly toppling herself over, and her heart leaped into her throat at the sight of Anna approaching the table.

Immediately Diana began an apology, face red as embarrassment took hold. "Anna, I apologize, that was -"

"As I said, it was a pleasant sight. There is no harm in acting your age for once."

The meaning of Anna's statement wasn't lost on Akko, and she felt the coils of fear unwinding from her belly, and her heart settled more comfortably back in her chest, as opposed to her throat. Akko treated Diana like the child she was, if her decision to tickle her at the dining table hadn't been a clear enough indication of that; and even if Diana herself wouldn't willingly let herself behave like one, Anna, apparently, believed she should - perhaps even _wished_ she would.

"Now, if you two would like to eat, the staff has already brought out your dinner."

Diana took on another shade of red, acknowledging that more than just Anna had seen her act so utterly decompressed, so utterly and irredeemably childish.

At the other end of the table sat their meals, and Akko wasted no time in pulling at Diana's hand, compelling her down to the other end.

Despite the heat encapsulating her cheeks, Diana couldn't have been more grateful. Her chest felt light, her head felt clear, and her shoulders felt free of the burdens of her every-day life, and she could only thank Akko for giving her this moment, as short as it was.

"Can we have dessert first?" Akko asked.

Perhaps, Diana may have been compelled to answer yes; and as her gaze met with Anna's, she could see the edges of the older woman's mouth curl up in the faintest hint of a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> This was incredibly fun to write. I hope you have enjoyed reading! This is cross-posted on FF.net.


End file.
